A&D's birthday celebration week begins by honoring all of you, POstables. You "Living Letters" who, because of Signed, Sealed, Delivered, are viewing your lives through a new lens, a story that continues with today's addition to the Living Letters series, courtesy of Judy.

My love for Signed, Sealed, Delivered started with the Pilot movie, and it created quite an addiction. There was something about the wonderful characters, their words, and the story of the Pilot that caused me to watch this movie repeatedly. It was the same way when the series came out. I was working night shift at the time, so I would record every Sunday night’s episode. I remember coming home from work every Monday morning and watching the recording before I went to sleep, and then watching it again as soon as I woke up. There was so much meaning in the words both spoken and unspoken that I did not want to miss a thing. I never grew tired of watching the episodes, so I continued to watch them over and over. I knew this series was something special from the first time I saw it. What I did not know was how this show would change the way I looked at my life.

I often wondered if I was the only one to feel so drawn to this show. I would read comments about the series on Facebook, but my real connection occurred when I started finding my Twitter family. I began to notice some familiar names and we started to connect. Before long, Alameda & Downing launched and the POstables family unit was created. What I can truly say is something very similar to what Oliver said during the “Porch Scene” in From Paris with Love… “I did not even realize what a huge hole I had in my department” until my POstable family came and filled it. I am so thankful for these friends, some that I have met personally and others that I hope to meet in the future. This special family unit is blessed with many talented individuals, along with some amazingly clever POstable sisters, so our time together is always filled with laughter. I can honestly say that we talk on a daily basis. We share about our life experiences, in addition to having deep conversations about our love for God and how the Signed, Sealed, Delivered series has touched our lives. In fact, one of our favorite lines is #ItAllComesBackToSSD.

One of the most important lessons I have learned is that God’s timing is always perfect. Even though my marriage of nearly 25 years had recently ended, God was using Signed, Sealed, Delivered to place valuable Biblical lessons into my life. In From Paris with Love, God helped me see the importance of forgiveness and that peace was essential. I related to how Oliver was feeling about his marriage because I wanted to do the right thing and was faithful to my marriage vows. I kept feeling like there was more I should have done to save the marriage. We tried counseling a few times and I prayed many times asking God to save our marriage making it a testimony to His power. Unfortunately, our marriage ended, but Martha Williamson’s words are so true when she wrote that “Marriage is so sacred, so precious, ending it shouldn’t be an easy thing to do”. I appreciated the honor she gave to the marriage vows as we were able to know that Oliver stayed faithful until the divorce was final and he did try everything to save the marriage when given the chance (even the kiss that could change her mind).

By the time I was watching Lost Without You, I had been struggling with my understanding of prayer. My cousin, who is my age, was very ill in the hospital for months and the medical staff did not think she would make it. We had many individuals praying for her and even had 24 hour prayer days asking for healing. I started to doubt that prayer would actually change anything if God’s will was not what we were asking for in prayer. I had always felt that God answers prayers, but at this time in my life I started to question exactly what Shane had asked when she said, “If God has everything all figured out, what’s the point of praying for anything?” Dale’s answer was a direct answer to my question. Praying to change me was exactly what I needed to hear. I was reminded of the fact that God has a plan and He is in control. God could have chosen to take my cousin home, but instead He did heal her. She is a living testimony to God’s healing on a daily basis as she teaches and coaches at a Christian school in Florida. What I learned during this time is how God wants us to have a deep relationship with Him on a daily basis, not only when times are painful and we are asking for help, but also with a grateful heart when things are #SheerlyAwesome.

I obviously believe Signed, Sealed, Delivered is more than just entertainment. Each story has a message inspired by God about trusting His timing, the importance of love, family, forgiveness and knowing that God plans to give us a hope and a future. I also believe that we are all given the opportunity to communicate the message of hope with others. I have shared Signed, Sealed, Delivered stories with my co-workers, friends, people I have met in airports, hairdressers, TV service workers or even hotel maintenance employees. This amazing show is a great way for viewers to see how things can work together for good, knowing that God is able to do immeasurably more that we can ever ask or imagine. Hence, #DivineDeliveryTheory is alive and well.

Thank you, Judy, for reminding us of all the ways in which this show enriches our lives and the responsibility we have to share that restoration and perspective with others.

The Living Letters series will continue as long as there are stories to share. If you would like to contribute something about how Signed, Sealed, Delivered has impacted your life that you'd be willing to share here on A&D, feel free to email me.

Thanks so much for your beautiful testimony of the way Signed Sealed Delivered has touched your life, Judy. I can relate completely to what you've written here. I especially like your explanation of how the show changed the way you look at prayer. I often go back to Shane's words to Becky in "Something Good" when she describes Oliver as someone who "talks like he expects us to be better somehow." Isn't that how most of us feel about ourselves now that we've immersed ourselves in the characters, stories and messages of SSD? We accept responsibility to communicate better, listen better, pray better, act with more integrity, help our fellow man better, have more faith and trust in God's plans and believe that there's hope in the world because God gives us the "power, love, and strong minds" to act that way instead of in fear.. Let's keep living that way becuase our little corners of the world will benefit by our efforts. And let's start or continue doing what you do to spread the wisdom that SSD communicates and tell others about this inspiring show they might want to check out on HMM. Let's share our DVD's with people, get them hooked! It could definitely help to make the world a 'better place"! Bravo, Judy, for all these good ideas.

Reply

Victoria Garzione

6/6/2017 09:41:04 pm

Win I am down or having a bad day the words between Shane and Dale about God and prayer always help me to get back on track. When I think of all of the beautiful lines that have come from Signed Sealed and Delivered I always return to that conversation between Shane and Dale about God and prayer.

Reply

Judy

6/6/2017 10:45:09 pm

I can remember watching the conversation between Shane and Dale for the first time. I felt like those words were written just for me. It was literally has dropping with tears in my eyes. I love how God speaks to us, pretty amazing!

Reply

Tamara

6/6/2017 11:22:57 pm

I felt those words were meant for me too. Still one of my favorite lines from SSD. Those two sentences pack a powerful punch. So much truth in them. "I don't pray to change God. I pray to change me." We are truly Lost Without You (God). Judy, thank you for sharing your story.